


the space between

by ndnickerson



Category: Nancy Drew - Keene
Genre: F/M, Pre-Files, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-25
Updated: 2009-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-05 06:39:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Nancy visits Ned once he's started at Emerson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the space between

**Author's Note:**

  * For [glasheen25 (children_of_lir)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/children_of_lir/gifts).



The first time, Nancy made the trip alone, and it took four hours and seventeen minutes. Nancy could feel every second of it, even when she was singing along with the radio or pumping gas. Ned was waiting for her.

Part of her wondered if a new case would find her when she got there. Most of her hoped she didn't, and she was afraid of what that might mean.

Ned was standing in front of Jenkins dorm, talking to a slightly shorter dark-haired guy, but as soon as he saw Nancy's car his face was split wide with a welcoming grin. She was barely out of her seat before he was wrapping his arms around her, practically lifting her off the ground, and she laughed with delight.

"Good to see you too, Nickerson."

"Welcome to Emerson," he said, his face buried in her hair.

"Is this the traditional Wildcat greeting?" she teased him, as he slowly, reluctantly put her down.

"Only for you," Ned said, smiling down at her. "Good to see you, Nan."

Nancy couldn't help herself; she smiled back, for once not worried about their audience, not worried about keeping her hands to herself, the way she felt about him off her face. "So where will I be staying tonight, Ned?"

"Oh, I'm sure we can find somewhere for you." The slow upturn of his lips brought a gradual heat to her cheeks, but she didn't let herself think about it.

From the dorm they headed to Greek Row, where Ned pointed out the sororities, decorating with garland and balloons for their weekend parties, and the fraternities, half their members on the lawn in collapsible chairs, coolers of beer between them. The student union was a sleek modern building, and they stopped in the cafeteria for bottles of soda to slake their thirst from the heat. The beginning of September and the weather was still unseasonably warm, the leaves just barely starting to turn.

"How are your classes so far?" Nancy asked, when they were on their way back from the auditorium. A wide expanse of wood seemed to surround the campus, and the rudimentary trail back to the dorms was lined with stone benches and informational plaques. In the deep cool shade of the trees and the growing dusk, Ned's eyes were in shadow, and his arm was around her waist.

"They seem fine so far," he said, sounding almost amused.

Nancy glanced down. Ned's steps were slowing, and so were hers; her skin, burnished warm in the afternoon heat, was just beginning to prickle with gooseflesh at the cool dusk. She shivered a little and instinctually leaned into Ned, and he chuckled.

"Cold?"

"A little."

"Let me see what I can do about that."

Their last few slow steps had brought them even with one of the benches; when Ned picked her up and swung her off her feet, off the path, her face tilting up to accept the kiss he was bending down to give her, she felt the seat brush against the back of her legs, but then Ned's mouth touched hers and she could feel nothing other than him, his warm face under her hands as she cupped his jaw, his hands at her waist.

"Ned?" Nancy said, when she could speak again.

"Hmm?"

"I know you said something about dinner, but could we maybe just do that the rest of the day?"

Ned brushed his mouth over hers, chuckling. "Well, a guy needs energy."

"Good point."

With his next kiss, his tongue slipped past her lips, and Nancy couldn't help the flush that rose to her cheeks as she cupped the back of his head, as he leaned in toward her and she braced herself against the bench, and the solid warmth of his long, lean body brushed against hers. She tilted her head and their mouths parted and his lips brushed gently against the point of her jaw, his hands half under the hem of her shirt at the small of her back. 

Nancy opened her mouth to protest, but she could feel something, something more than the dying sunlight still radiating through to her heart, something more than the heated laughter of the students she could feel around her, all free, all happy, when she still had a year of high school in front of her. Something more. And no one else was here to tell her she had to stop, to tell her she had to think, to take a step back.

She traced the backs of her fingers over the underside of Ned's jaw, his neck, bringing her thumbs up to brush against his lips, still wet, swelled from their kiss. 

"How much energy you think you got left?"

His eyes widened slightly. "I could go for hours."

"Show me."

\--

Ned had apparently told everyone he'd met about her, in the two weeks he'd been at Emerson; at the Theta Pi house, the girls all said they just _knew_ that she'd be pledging them in a year, and told her she absolutely _had _to come to their party.

Nancy glanced at Ned, who gave her an amused little nod, and she promised they would at least make an appearance.

"Do you really see yourself doing that?" he asked her, as they headed back to the nearest dining hall. "Pledging a sorority?"

Nancy shrugged, shivering a little as Ned's thumb stroked her palm. "I don't know. It's a big commitment, though, isn't it?"

"Well, volunteer work, giving back to the school, and there's of course, well," he kicked at a loose stone, "all the crazy parties. But that's, what, one percent of the whole experience."

"Oh, less than that," Nancy teased him, bumping her shoulder against him. "And all those wet t-shirt contests and keg stands, only in the movies."

Ned slowed a little. "Is that really how you feel about it?"

Nancy turned her still-grinning face to him and searched his gaze, her mouth relaxing into the last of a smile. "Why?"

Ned swallowed. "I've been thinking about pledging a frat."

Nancy blinked. "Which one?" she asked, absent anything better to say. She had to admit, if only to herself, that she'd never really seen herself dating a frat boy. But if Ned was thinking about it, it couldn't be as bad as all she'd thought. It couldn't.

"Omega Chi Epsilon. Maybe."

"Which one is that?"

Ned pointed it out, a stately, slightly shabby three-story set back in the yard. Then one of the clean-cut, bright-eyed men lingering near the door hailed Ned, and she allowed herself to be introduced to the group, then drawn deeper into the house. It was just like a grand old house, but the furniture was shabby, covered in condensation rings from glasses and beer bottles, the curtains looked like they had been inherited from a house that had been stylish thirty years ago, and she was greeted with the incongruous sight of a large-screen television and the latest gaming system taking up the majority of one corner of the living room. There was a pool table, too, and four or five slender, tanned girls, hair expertly dyed, who dragged their gazes like nails over Nancy's jeans and t-shirt. They looked like bitter, jaded versions of the happy, welcoming girls at Theta Pi, and Nancy crossed her arms over her chest.

Then one of the guys handed Nancy a drink in a red plastic cup, and one of the tanned harpies let her gaze linger suggestively on Nancy's boyfriend for too long, and Nancy tossed the liquid in the cup back. It tasted like a cross between cherry kool-aid and rubbing alcohol.

Fifteen minutes later, it seemed like a very, very good idea to grab Ned, draw his face down to hers, and kiss him until he put his hands at her hips and picked her up and held her to him.

"Hey," he whispered, gasping a little, when she pulled back.

"Hey," she smiled, touching his face.

"No more, okay?" He licked his lips thoughtfully.

She nodded, very seriously. "No more. Okay. You think we should go to Theta Pi now?"

"Is that what you want to do?"

She nodded, then leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "I don't like the way those girls have been looking at you."

Ned laughed. "All right."

The night was cooler, and even though the heat was still radiating off the sidewalk, a wave of chill suddenly passed over Nancy, and she huddled into her boyfriend's side. "You never told me how the football tryout went."

"Oh." Ned buffed his nails on his shirt. "Um, fantastic, actually."

"Ned, that's great!" Nancy threw her arms around him and they both fell a little off balance, and when Ned righted her, both of them laughing, their bodies were pressed tight again.

"It really is great." She searched his eyes.

"It is," he agreed, and then leaned down, so close their mouths were almost touching. She slid her arms around his neck and brushed the tip of her nose over his, his breath warm on her lips before she closed the distance between them.

"Why couldn't you have gone to an all-boys school," she complained softly when they finally parted.

Ned chuckled. "Jealous, Drew?"

"Sorority sisters, cheerleaders in their flippy little skirts, and you're four hours away," she said, toying with the short hair at the nape of his neck. "Wouldn't you be?"

Ned's smile faded. "I'm jealous every single day of the guys who get to sit in class next to you, who get to see you. And babe, you don't need to worry. Really."

"Better not." Nancy ran her fingertips under his collar. "Because if you start hanging out with some slutty cheerleader—"

Ned silenced her with a swift kiss, and when he pulled back his lips brushed her ear. "Nan, I promise. I don't have eyes for anyone but you. And when you finally decide to come to Emerson too, trust me, you'll never have to wonder where I am or who I'm looking at, because it'll be you."

Nancy rolled her eyes. "Sure," she whispered.

Ned picked her up until their gazes were level, and held her eyes for a long moment. "Promise."

She cupped his face in her hands and leaned forward until their mouths were almost touching. "You know that whole maybe we should do this all day thing?"

"Yeah?"

Nancy smiled. "We can always go to Theta Pi tomorrow."

"You do always have the best ideas, Detective Drew."

"Mmm," Nancy agreed, as he tilted his head and pressed his lips to hers.


End file.
